The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-03-26
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The Life of Emory A. Storrs: His Wit and
Eloquence, by Isaac Adams, Esq, is pre-
pared under the direction and in the inter-
est OF Mrs. Storrs;' and it goes without say
ing that biography written under such SUI
peryision cannot be quite true to the life.
generation or two must intervene. and
some Of his nearest and dearest pass away
before mans life can be fairly pronounced
upon, his good and evil justly balanced ana
an honest judgment of him given to the
world. That is the verdict of posterity--
Contemporary praise and detraction count
but little. But this book is large one. and
contains the ablest of Mr. Storrs's utterances
from the platformAn in the forum. These
give us clearer conception of the intellec-
tuality OF the man, and there we must stop.
Mr.. Storrs was wonderfully ready and witty,
at times he rose to eloquence, and, SO far as
we can judge, he appears to have mastered
his cases at the bar. There were some I'M
fortunate circumstances Of his life which de-
tracted largely from the infences which SO
able man ought to exert, and he has left
but light impress upon his time. He was
one Of the very brightest political orators in
the country, and viii be missed by thousands
to whom his words were always welcome.
The letter press Of the book is good, and it
is emDeilished with a portrait of Mr. Storrs
and some autograph letters from eminent
men. philadelphia: Hubbard Brothsrs)
DR.. Stokes in his volume entitled Micro
scopy for Beginners. opens the door to a
large amount of knowledge valuable to the
student Of natural history The microscope
has been called "a new sense" and becomes
by use amost fascinating method of making
nature pellucid." The author of the pres
ent volume makes for his work no scientific
pretensions, but aims to help the beginner to
ascertain the names Of some Of the common
microscopic creatures, both animal and vege-
table. with which the fresh waters of the
land are filled, and thus opens the way to
more abstruse and purely scientific research
ana classification. The illustrations are
many and helpful, and the young betanist
and zoologist may derive from this little
work much information as well as pleasure.
New York: Harper & Brothers; Portland:
Loring, Short & Harmony
The Startling Exploits Of DIR. ]. B. Quies,
from the French of Paul Celiere has been
translated by Mrs. Cashel Hoey and Mr.
John Lille and published by the Harpers in
an extremely handsome volume with 100 cap
ital illustrations, by no means the least
amusing part of book, which is curious
extravaganza, very Frenchy and very funny
The author says Of his story that it is only a
fight Of fancy, which has not been written
for the purpose of astonishing the world, en-
larging the horizon of thought or shaking
the foundations Of the social edifice; but he
has certainly succeeded in his intention of
amusing his readers. One might as well try
to describe the intrcacics of cobweb as to
give an idea of the fantastic and unintention-
al peregrinations and adventures of good
DIR. Quies, whose one idea is, as his name
suggests, "repos," and who is carried by
cruel fate to the ends of the earth. New
York: Harper & Brothers; Portland: Lor-
ing, Short & Harmony
One might easily find ground for a good
deal of casual criticism in Mr.. John T.
Wheelwright's clever novel, A Child of the
Century, but the author at once disarms us
by his own frank, friendly and good natured
word, so that being entertained and interest
ed we are inclined to say, "You are good
fellow, we like you and your book" and let
itgo at that. We are antagonized by no fine
airs, we are not called upon to ''come up into
the Clouds" nor are we asked to admire the
aesthetic decorations of dishcloth from the
standpoint of the fine arts. Mr. Wheel
wright has written pleasant, jolly, agreea-
BILE story, more than usually bright and
fetching" and we can enjoy 1t from the
common plane of everyday life, and thank
him for having entertained us In leisure
hour. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony
1t was wise thought to put Colonel Hig-
ginson's two papers, A Letter to A Young
Contributor, and Hints on Speechmaking, in
to little volume by themselves, where they
will be easily at hand for reference. They
are really invaluable for the use he intended
them, more especially the letter to literary
aspirants. young and old, which contains
many useful hints, and which is in itself
model of literary form and elegance of die
ton. Colonel Higginson's English is so
pure, his style is SO sincere and SO utterly
Tree from Alterations and fopperies, that
one Is always charmed with his way of put
ting things. The gracious flow of his thought
makes still more impressive the thought
itself, and young writer could find no bet
ter or more delightful master In this age of
literary crazy quilts, when nine-tenths of the
books published are mere patchwork. con-
tanning brilliant scraps, but neither harmony
nor continuity of thought, we find Colonel